Keating faulted for fundraising flaw

Saturday

The war of words has been over for three months, but candidates in the hotly contested 10th Congressional District race continue to manage their war chests.

Republican Jeffrey Perry, who lost a tight, bitter battle against Democrat William Keating, still has $64,000 cash on hand, while Keating's campaign cupboard is nearly bare with just more than $3,000 on hand, according to federal records filed recently.

Records show Perry raised $1.3 million and Keating $1.5 million in a district that saw more than $6 million spent overall when primary candidates and outside political action committees are added to the pot.

Keating's campaign received a letter saying the campaign failed to properly disclose last-minute contributions of $1,000 or more during the final weeks of the Nov. 2 election, federal records show. Five donations of $1,000 each were disclosed in the most recent filings but should have been part of a 48-hour report, according to the letter.

Failure to properly notify the FEC of contributions of $1,000 or more within 48 hours during the last 20 days of a campaign can result in a fine or legal enforcement action, the letter states. Keating was given until Nov. 4 to fix the mistake.

Letters such as the one Keating received are fairly common and only result in punishment if the candidate ignores the request for more information, an FEC spokeswoman said.

"The Keating campaign is in the process of amending its filing to comport with the FEC's recent communication," Keating spokeswoman Lauren Amendolara wrote in an e-mail to the Times on Friday.

"While the failure to file these 48-hour notices was an unintentional error, Congressman Keating fully supports the transparency afforded by FEC filings, which is why these contributions were disclosed in the campaign's post-election filing."

Records show Perry, who announced he is not running for Congress in 2012 after accepting a $110,000-a-year job as special sheriff of Barnstable County, has already begun the process of spending down the money that remains in his campaign account.

Perry refunded a $1,300 contribution to his wife, paid his law partner Kevin Flannigan $5,000 for legal services and held a $4,200 party for his supporters at Dan'l Webster Inn in Sandwich.

"It's just a return of donations she made at a specific time to help out the cause," Perry said of the reimbursement to his wife, Lisa.

Flannigan was paid for legal advice he provided during the campaign and for going to Washington, D.C., for training should the election require a recount or if there were voting irregularities, Perry said.

A spokeswoman for the FEC said the payment to the law firm is legitimate as long as it was for services received by the campaign.

Though he's in "no rush" to empty the account, a $1,000 donation to U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is an indication how Perry will spend the remaining cash.

"I would expect to use it to support other Republican federal candidates," Perry said. "I'm also allowed to give it to charities. As time goes on, as I see worthy entities in need, I'll give to charities on Cape Cod."

That raises the question of how retired U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Quincy, will spend the $132,000 remaining in his campaign coffers.

Last year, as he decided whether to run for re-election, Delahunt was criticized for using campaign money to pay his son-in-law, Nickolai Bobrov, as a campaign consultant and his daughter, Kara, as a campaign photographer.

Records show Bobrov continued to receive monthly checks totaling $22,400 from October through the end of the year.

In a phone interview, Delahunt said Bobrov is helping him deal with the details of closing down his congressional office. "There are winding-down expenses, just archiving 14 years of hearings," Delahunt said. "It's box after box after box."

Like Perry, Delahunt said he plans to use some of the remaining money to hold events to thank supporters — likely this spring — and will make contributions to political candidates and charitable organizations.

"I do feel it's appropriate to do a final tour," he said, noting he would likely hold two events on the Cape. "It's a chance to reconnect with people."

Meanwhile, Delahunt had dozens of entries in his disbursements with the memo "void of stale-dated check" listed as the reason. In accounting terms, that means the check was no longer valid. One of the checks was for $2,500 to Delahunt himself and $250 with Kara Delahunt listed as the contributor.

Delahunt said he could not comment on those specific checks until he consults with his campaign treasurer.

The reports of other candidates in what was a crowded field for the 10th Congressional race, show independent candidate Maryanne Lewis finished with a deficit of $5,000. Independent James Sheets failed to file a report.

Primary candidates, Democrat Robert O'Leary and Republican Joseph Malone, show large amounts of debt in their latest filings. O'Leary's campaign owes $30,000 and Malone is in the red by $68,000, records show.

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